Many companies employ call centers to exchange information with customers. Call centers often employ interactive voice response (IVR) systems, such as the Avaya Interactive Response® system, commercially available from Avaya Inc., to provide callers with information in the form of recorded messages and to obtain information from callers using keypad or voice responses to recorded queries. Ports on the IVR systems are often referred to as “automated agents” or “virtual agents.”
A number of IVR systems employ the Voice eXtensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) to create IVR scripts. Typically, a media server receives a call, obtains the appropriate VoiceXML page from a dedicated local or remote server and then executes the VoiceXML page for the caller. An IVR typically converts a caller's voice responses into a textual format for computer-based processing. A number of existing IVR systems provide tools for monitoring or debugging the interaction with a caller. For example, a number of IVR systems employ log files or other trace features that allow caller interactions to be analyzed.
While such debugging tools provide an effective mechanism for correcting errors in an IVR system, they typically do not allow modifications to be made in real time as a call progresses. In addition, currently available debugging tools do not allow an agent monitoring the transaction to interact with the IVR application, for example, to intercept, modify or otherwise correct an interaction between the IVR system and a caller. A need therefore exists for improved techniques for monitoring or debugging an IVR system. A further need exists for a visual interface to an IVR system that provides a visual interpretation of the running IVR application.